June 8, 1861 – Tennessee becomes the final southern State to secede from the Union

Source: The Tennessee Encyclopedia – see full arcticle

In May, seizing the new momentum, Governor Harris and the legislature declared the state’s independence, made a military alliance with the Confederacy, and began raising an army to defend the state from Union invasion. To validate their actions, the legislators called another referendum for June 8. On that date, approximately 105,000 Tennesseans voted for secession, while only 47,000 voted against, but East Tennesseans voted more than two-to-one (33,000 to 14,000) to stay with the Union, indicating an enormous anti-secession and anti-Confederacy pocket east of the Cumberland Plateau.